Escape from Anatombey
by M00NBOUND
Summary: Public transport isn't normally the Doctor's style, but Nissa meets the strange man on her school bus one cloudy morning. As she is subtley interrogated, she questions the Doctor's motives. Definitely not your average student teacher.
1. Chapter 1

**My first Doctor Who fic! In fact, you could say my first ever fic, but I had a pokemon one a while back that I scrapped =P**

**Disclaimer: The Doctor doesn't belong to me, but I do keep a pet Dalek in my wardrobe ^^**

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The bus was reasonably new, but already some of the paint had been lightly plucked away by numerous grubby fingertips, exam nerves getting the better of each child's relaxed composure. Long ago had the companies given up on fitting seat belts into such vehicles, knowing that they were about as beneficial as a plug socket in a bathtub. Wasted money on protection that the students never used.

"Nissa, DUCK!"

Nissa immediately obeyed the warning, learning from practise that ignoring it would result in some kind of unpleasant experience, most likely pain. A moment later there was a wet slap against the front window directly above her head.

"What the hell is this?" she exclaimed, picking up the plastic bag between her thumb and forefinger. She offered an apologetic smile to the nonchalant driver, who simply shrugged and concentrated on the road ahead. With that she walked down the isle and picked a seat in front of the year 7 boy responsible for the sloppy missile.

"Right Jack, so either you stole paint from the art block and didn't have anything to carry it home in, or that there is the remains of a body"

"Wrong and wrong" He grinned, brushing his sandy fringe from his eyes. "Those are strawberries from my lunchbox. I tried to make a smoothie by jumping on them."

Nissa, not really knowing how to respond to such a comment, rolled her eyes, gave one last reproachful glance at the bag of vivid red gloop and turned to gaze out the clouded window. Condensation had built up, and various unspeakable images had been marked out on the glass by the younger kids, providing small cracks through which you could view the outside world. It was through one of these fissures that Nissa spotted the man who would later play a huge part in her near future.

He stood alongside the two 6th formers who normally caught the bus, as if waited. They stood slightly away from him, obviously uncomfortable with his presence and confused as to why the stranger was just standing there for no apparent reason. The man himself seemed oblivious to their quizzical looks, and stood in total silence, occasionally rocking back on his heels with his hands clasped firmly behind his back.

As the bus pulled up a large grin spread across the man's face and he abruptly moved to board the bus, much to the astonishment of the two students at his side. As he approached the driver signalled for the stranger to stop, reluctantly turning to face the suited man. At this point the majority of students had let their conversations drop; the air buzzed with curiosity.

"Sorry mate," the driver coughed. "This bus is for students only; we're not open for the public."

"Ahhh, well…" The man grinned "It's a good job I'm a student then! … Student teacher that is. My car broke down, and I wouldn't want to disappoint this lot!" He opened his arms wide towards the many confused faces, grinning again as he did so. "Besides, I have a pass." He waved a wallet in front of the driver's face. Nissa longed to see that pass, as she could spot a fake form a mile away, but he quickly slipped it away into an inside pocket once the driver had given him the nod. Why would the council give a teacher a pass when they were perfectly capable of driving in on their own?

This was the first opportunity that Nissa had had to get a proper look at the newcomer, and the more she looked the stranger he seemed. His clothes were… odd, a brown suit with pink shirt and a bowtie that brought the two together. But a bowtie? She hadn't seen one of those since her uncle's wedding two years ago. His hair was brown as were his eyes, which had depth to the, intelligence beyond anything Nissa had ever met before.

"Dammit" Nissa muttered. She had caught his eye, and now he was strolling towards her. She let her straight black hair fall across the right side of her face and stared intently out the window, anything to look dull and uninteresting.

Even with these defences she still felt the teacher's suit brush against her uniform. Great. There were still 20 minutes of bus ride left and she was sitting next to a teacher. In a way she wanted to talk to this man, he just invited questions, but she believed the best way to get through this was to avoid conversation completely, just keep staring out the window…

"Hi there!" The strange man said, and Nissa froze before sighing and turning to face him. He wanted to attempt conversation. So be it.

"I'm the Doctor."

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**And there you have it!  
Public transport isn't really the Doctor's style, but he'll cope ;)**

**Moonbound x**


	2. Chapter 2

**I know that the chapter is a bit short... but how about I make up for it with an extra long one next time =D**

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"Doctor…"

"Yeah that's right, or _The_ Doctor, but that's a bit flash, even for me." He wiggled his eyebrows comically, and Nissa had to bite back a laugh. The smile, however, broke out upon her face, and the Doctor returned it with an even larger grin of his own.

The silence that followed was not awkward, and Nissa felt quite comfortable sitting in the company of the man she barely knew, because it didn't _feel_ like she barely knew him. He was already a friend, and they had yet to speak more than a sentence to each other.

The Doctor was obviously not as happy as Nissa to sit quietly in a happy silent harmony, and he abruptly reached forward to pluck the little blue book jutting out from the rim of her bag at her feet. It was the school planner, issued to every student on the first day of term, and as he flipped it round in his hands she saw his mouth flicker at the edges as he looked at some of her doodles. They consisted primarily of, as most doodles do, random images, or brain vomit as her brother fondly put it. Her personal favourite was a tiny demon sitting in the corner of the homework section. Originally he had been a heart, but her scribbling biro had given it arms and legs and a tiny grimacing face over the originally charming image.

"Lucky you! Physics first thing. Good time for thinking, in the morning. Did you know, it was 11:00 when the apple hit Newton on the noggin? "

"I'm not too fond of it myself." Nissa frowned. "Chemistry and Biology are okay I guess, but Physics is always dull"

"Oh nononono NO!" The sudden outburst made Nissa jump, but there was fire in the Doctor's eyes; he didn't seem to have noticed. "We'll have to sort that… when's your first lesson…" He thumbed through the pages as if they were on fire, and stopped with a triumphant smile on her timetable.

"Now, I have 28 hours," He looked at his wrist, which failed to bear a watch, "28 hours 46 minutes and 72 seconds. Or 28 hours 47 minutes and 12 seconds, however you want to look at it." He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "A small detour won't hurt a bit… RIGHT"

He leapt up, just as the bus pulled in to the school gateway.

"Right, see you in science, Niss" He called, and flashed her another trademark smile. He then stopped, and with a much more serious gaze spun on one of the bars to face her once more, much to the annoyance of the students trying to depart the bus.

"And if you see anything… unusual, come to me as soon as you can. I might be late."

And he was gone.

The sudden change in the Doctor's attitude had left Nissa cold and confused, but she soon shrugged it off, and hopped down onto the tarmac. It was a slight comfort to her that she would see the man again, and for once she couldn't wait for Physics!

But what had he meant about being 'late'? Late for what?

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**Business Studies exam on Friday, wish me luck =S  
But After that it's the next Dr Who!**


	3. Chapter 3

**School happens... all I can do is apologise for the wait :)**

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Amy sat at the console swinging her legs over the metal grill which made up the floor of the TARDIS. She hated this, hated being left behind as the Doctor saved the lives of everyone and anyone. He had left her when she was a child, in that small English cottage, and he had left her blind with the angels. The stone angels… Amy shivered. Those memories were just not worth revisiting.

And now he had left her again.

But he always came back, and she only ever let him go if he made that promise.

Besides, this time it was different. Amy was not locked in the blue box to stop her from hurting herself, she'd already done that much. It was to stop her from hurting herself even more.

Of course that's not what the Doctor had said. "Come on Pond, you know what kids are like! You'd just attract attention to yourself. Plus who else could I trust with watching the TARDIS? I'm relying on you here."

He'd gone to a school of all places, he understood kids, he thought like them, and he tended to get on best with them. Forget the 900 year age gap, he had never grown up. Or maybe that's just what time lords were. Oversized children with time machines as toys. Mad men in blue boxes.

She glanced at the monitor again, and then at her arm. Amy, the unbeatable invincible Amy, had burns all over her left arm, from her elbow to the tips of her now morphed and twisted fingers. The Doctor had taken away all feeling from it with some kind of futuristic medication; that she was glad of, but she hoped he could help her further. It was a blackened, shrivelled mess, and it no longer felt like a part of her.

That's the thing about time machines. They can go back in time. It seems obvious, but when you really think about it all kinds of things are possible. The Doctor, _her_ Doctor, had explained the principals to her. Paradox's and parallel universes, there was so much out there. But he had said that to get involved with any of those hidden wonders was a time traveller's suicide.

Yet here they were, in the past. It was the guilt, Amy thought, the guilt that had made the Doctor come back. The idea was to stop the fire ever happening, to stop Amy being burned. Of course she wanted that, but what she _didn't_ want was sit cooped up in here forever. Knowing the Doctor he'd already gotten himself another objective.

Amy made sure that she wore something long sleeved, something that would cover up her less than unsightly arm, before patting the console fondly and throwing open the doors to somewhere that, for once, she was familiar with. Earth never really changed.

Amy thought about how long she had before she got frazzled… again. This time travel thing could mess up your mind, it really was not advisable to think about it.

Nissa felt more than a little disappointed when Mr. Kopp walked into her physics lesson. He was their usual teacher… mundane and boring. He wrote notes on the board, you copied them down, and that was how he worked. It was even more depressing when you could see the Chemistry labs across the hall through the glass in the door, where kids routinely blew up obscene chemicals to create brightly coloured flames and sparks.

"So where's the sub you were talking about?" Jade said next to her, resting her chin on her fist. "All I see is a balding, middle aged nutcase, y'know, the same one we see every Monday morning."

"You didn't meet the Doctor" Nissa whispered sourly. "I bet he'd have had us setting the desks alight if he'd turned up."

As the girls were slowly put to sleep by Nigel Kopp's monotonous ramblings, a suited figure approached the classroom door, much to the delight of Nissa.

"That's him!" she hissed. "That's the man I was talking about, the one form my bus!"

A short rapping was followed by a head, poked round the doorframe. It was the doctor alright, bowtie and all and he looked like he would be the one to get a detention, not to be giving them out.

"Excuse me, sorry I'm late... but I was informed that today I should be taking this class as part of my training. It also stresses that I must be unsupervised… so you best be off then, yeah?" The Doctor's smile was contagious, but nothing could move the concrete lines that formed the scowl on Mr Kopp's face.

"And where is the proof of this arrangement Mr…" The teacher blatantly didn't believe a thing coming out of this man's mouth. In fact, Mr Kopp thought that he was most likely speaking to a 6th former having a laugh.

"errr Doctor."

"Mr Doctor?"

"Yeah, that'll do. Scoot off now would 'ya?" The Doctor flashed a small card in front of the teachers face, and to the watching students the expression was priceless… but brief.

"If I am to leave the room, then who is to be assessing your teaching performance Mr. _Doctor_?" Mr Kopp said triumphantly. He thought he'd caught the man out this time, and for a split second the Doctor's face seemed to draw a blank, until an expression of recognition graced his features.

"Why there she is! Just a bit late 'tis all, but better late than never as one wise man once said. Benedict O'Brien, really nice guy. Ms Pond, just the woman for the job."

The red head at the door, a woman in her 20s from the looks of things, had a bemused look on her face, but seemed happy enough to be in the Doctor's company. Amy soon fell into the role, she had gotten used to this spur of the moment role plays, being around the Doctor day in day out.

"Yes, that's me… Ms Amelia Pond, at your service."

Mr Kopp, totally defeated, sulked out of the room, and the Doctor instantly leapt up.

"Well we told _him_, nice one Pond." He turned to his apparent colleague. "I always know I can count on you…" He then turned to the class, who had watched the events unfold before them with ever strengthening curiosity. "Right, let me show you some real science, originating from the sub space of Alpha Benovion to be precise, though you didn't hear that last bit from me." He winked craftily. "And Nissa, look after this for a mo would you, I just need to see what this school's excuse for Sulphur Diohydronate looks like.

When Nissa looked over the card that the Doctor had thrown over to her, she got a brief glimse of a permit allowing the Doctor to sell bananas to the people of Tokyo. When she looked up the Doctor passed her another of those smiles again, before dashing off to investigate the chemical shelves. When she took another look at the banana-card it was a plain, white and exceedingly dull piece of paper.

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**And there you have it! I have a slightly better idea about the plot now, which is good. Anyway, until next time!  
Moonbound x**


End file.
